Closing four Saskatchewan circuit court points could lead to more expensive travel and court proceeding delays, according to the province’s trial lawyers association’s president.
In April, the Chief Judge of the Provincial Court decided that circuit court points will close this year in Watrous, Carnduff, Big River and Southey. Judges travel to circuit court points to hold proceedings in communities that do not have a permanent provincial court office.
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This week, the Saskatchewan Trial Lawyer Association (STLA) responded to the measure through a news release that expressed concerns the move would add delays to “an already congested court system.”
“You take all the matters from one centre and you just dump it into another, on top of what’s already an existing busy schedule,” STLA president Jeffrey Deagle said in an interview Tuesday.
“You’re not opening up any more court times, you’re not opening up any more access to judges, you are simply adding more to the already existing queue that may be bulging at the seams in some locations.”
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The Chief Judge regularly reviews the province’s judicial resources, according to a spokesperson for the Courts of Saskatchewan. A number of factors are taken into consideration, including the number of appearances at a certain location and how far a circuit court point is from the next closest court location.
However, the STLA said the four locations were chosen without consultation. Deagle said the move could cause “individuals a lot more hardship” if they wish to take certain legal action.
“If they want to bring a small claims action and they could easily do it because their court point was only a few minutes way, they may not want to do it anymore because now they have to go through the extra expense of going hours away,” Deagle said.
“I think in some ways it does a disservice to our system of justice because it doesn’t allow timely and effective access to all the rural people especially.”
READ MORE: Weyburn’s mayor concerned about office closures at courthouse
The STLA’s response to the closures came days after they were announced because the group was communicating with its broad membership in order to be “on a common front” before a statement was made, according to Deagle.
Watrous’ court has already completed its final sitting, while Carnduff is set to hold its last court day on Thursday. Big River and Southey’s circuit court points will close later this year.
Okanagan residents are set to keep a closer eye on illegal dumping in the wilderness.
Non-profit group the Okanagan Forest Task Force is in the process of installing cameras to catch people in the act.
“We will be hiding them so you can’t see them but they can see you,” task force president Kane Blake said.
Blake took a Global Okanagan News crew up the Gillard Forest Service Road on the south slopes of Kelowna on Tuesday morning to show how much garbage has piled up in the forest.
“Today in the short time been here we found lots and lots of broken glass, an abundance of shotgun shells, we found live rounds as well burnt shingles,” Blake said. “There is a broken television beside me, there is a lawn chair over there, a newspaper from three days ago blowing around.”
The Okanagan Forest Task Force has collected 87,000 pounds of garbage from area forests between September 2016 and April 2017.
Blake says not only is the garbage an eyesore but it poses a safety hazard to people and wildlife.
“A little piece of glass, it can be a small inch by an inch, that is a little magnifying glass that on a hot day can start a fire,” Blake said.
“Deer don’t ask for this, bear don’t ask to walk through broken glass and nails.”
Fines for dumping garbage illegally can range depending on what is being dumped and where. A standard fine on Crown land is $57 but there are also legal ramifications involved because dumping can result in criminal charges.
Anyone who witnesses offenders dumping garbage illegally is asked to report it by calling the RAPP (Report All Poachers and Polluters) line at 1-877-952-7277.
A French Canadian fruit picker has just arrived in Keremeos for the harvest season, but with nowhere to stay he’s pitched a tent along the banks of the Similkameen River.
Soon the unincorporated area of Crown land will be a temporary home to as many as 150 riverbed campers —; mostly transients but also a handful of fruit pickers.
“Most places they don’t [provide housing] so people have to stay at this campground,” said Olivier Gourde.
He’s referring to the orchardists who are not legally required to provide accommodation to Canadian workers, although they are required to provide housing for temporary foreign workers.
However many employers do allow Canadian workers to camp on their properties.
“The big conventional farms, they tend to neglect a lot of the employees and be too much into the money, money, money thing. So they want to save a lot of money and this is neglecting the quality of living of the employees basically,” Gourde said.
Some residents are expressing concern about the unsanctioned campground, citing issues with garbage, damage to the environment, the threat to at-risk species, and public health.
“There are no facilities here. There are no washrooms. There are no hand washing facilities. There is nowhere to cook a meal,” said resident Teresa Roesch.
Roesch said the problem has grown out of control.
“I think that the orchardists in the area, this problem stems directly from them not supporting their workers. They hire them but they don’t house them,” said Roesch.
The Village of Keremeos asked the province for a land tenure so it can enforce its parks bylaw which includes a ban on overnight camping.
“Right now the area is not within the village boundary so that makes it difficult for us,” said Mayor Manfred Bauer.
Bauer said he’s also advocated for years for improved living conditions for farm workers.
“I’ve lived here for 30 years and I would say it has incredibly improved in terms of providing amenities simply because the orchardists need the labour,” he said.
But Gourde said there still needs to be further protections.
“You think of the human right thing and there is still alot to be done,” he said.
The Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations said it could not comment during the election period.
It will be at least five years before parents may have to pay extra to enroll their non-Catholic children in the Catholic school system, thanks to the Saskatchewan government’s plan to invoke the notwithstanding clause.
On April 20, a Court of Queen’s Bench judge ruled that the province can no longer fund non-Catholic children in Catholic schools.
Once the necessary legislation is passed, the notwithstanding clause will override the judge’s verdict for a five-year period.
This course of action appears sudden to Howard Leeson, who helped draft the clause 35 years ago.
“So we really don’t need to use it right away. If at the end of the court process you wanted to use it that’s an entirely different thing. My general feeling is it’s premature right now,” Leeson said.
READ MORE: Sask. government halts Catholic school funding decision with notwithstanding clause
When the Saskatchewan Catholic School Boards Association (SCSBA) launch their planned appeal, it would have delayed the implementation of the judge’s decision.
Leeson, who is a baptized Catholic, supports the verdict.
“I think it’s a genuine discrimination against other faiths, because at the moment they can take only 80 per cent of their funding,” Leeson explained.
“The court is not saying there can’t be funding to religious schools, it just has to be equal amongst the religions, and I think that’s a pretty good argument.”
Leeson anticipates the ruling will be upheld in an appeal, which he said would bring the “real crunch”.
Premier Wall said Monday that if his government is still in power in five years, and a decision hasn’t been reached, they will renew the notwithstanding clause.
READ MORE: Judge rules Sask. government cannot fund non-Catholic students in Catholic schools
Education Minister Don Morgan said that the province will likely get involved in the SCSBA appeal. He defended the status quo of education funding because it has worked for over a century.
“There’s a lot of reasons why it works well. If a child has a problem in one school system it gives that student the opportunity to go to the other school system and have a fresh start, it allows some resources to be shared,” Morgan said.
Morgan said that there are no plans to change the education system in Saskatchewan, because no one has come forward advocating that change.
“We’re also hearing from people in the public school, saying if we brought 10,000 kids in we can’t absorb them. We don’t have the facilities to do that,” Morgan said.
Constitutional lawyer with MTL Aikens Khurrum Awan discusses the notwithstanding clause with Global News.
Kael Donnelly/Global News
Constitutional lawyer with MTL Aikens Khurrum Awan represented the public school system in the Theodore case. He believes using the notwithstanding clause sends the wrong message.
“Given the religious diversity of the province today where you have 35 per cent of the province’s population either being people of no religious affiliation, or religious affiliation other than Catholic or Protestant, that it was no longer open to the government to be selectively supporting the choice of some non-Catholic parents who are comfortable with a Catholic education,” Awan said.
“The idea of choice that the government is promoting is in itself discriminatory when you consider the religious and non-religious diversity of the province.”
Public Schools of Saskatchewan executive director Larry Huber said he is disappointed in the government’s choice to use the clause. Awan said his clients share a similar view.
“My clients in the public board are deeply concerned about the precedent that it sets. That’s a precedent, in our respectful opinion, exceeds the political interests of the day,” Awan said.
Meanwhile, the SCSBA said they are extraordinarily pleased that the government is giving parents breathing room with the clause.
Tom Fortosky with the SCSBA said they are investigating fundraising options to cover the cost of the appeal.
“We received a quote from our council on the cost of an appeal, and it’s approximately $125,000,” Fortosky said.
If the appeal goes to the Supreme Court of Canada, \ that appeal cost would likely double.
The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank, has ousted its leader after a power struggle.
The Washington non-profit’s board of trustees unanimously asked for and received the resignation of Jim DeMint at a meeting Tuesday. The board chairman said in a pull-no-punches statement afterward that “significant and worsening management issues” led to the ouster.
“Heritage has never been about one individual, but rather the power of conservative ideas,” chairman Thomas Saunders III wrote in a statement. “Heritage is bigger than any one person.”
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DeMint, a former South Carolina senator, could not immediately be reached.
I am honored to be joined by 47 congressional colleagues on this letter to a conservative hero, Senator @JimDeMint. pic.twitter杭州桑拿/CwpYDr3TnS
— Mike Lee (@MikeLeeforUtah) May 2, 2017
Dozens of Republicans in Congress wrote a love-letter of sorts to DeMint on Monday. They praised him for serving as an inspirational conservative figure “even when confronted by overwhelming opposition, bitter criticism and nagging skepticism.”
Rep. Dave Brat, a Virginia Republican, called DeMint’s ouster “a tragedy.”
Conservatives in South Carolina are proud of @JimDeMint and the work he’s done at @Heritage.
I’m proud of him too. (2/3)
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) May 2, 2017
“He’s just kind of an ideal person who understood the think-tank world and understands the timing and the strategy along with policy,” Brat said. “And to lose that, it’s incomprehensible. I don’t get it. At all. I don’t get it.”
Some board members called the decision a painful, but necessary, one.
Kay Cole James said it was “purely about management, organizational and structural issues” – not philosophical differences with DeMint.
James said Saunders expressed admiration for DeMint during an all-staff meeting late Tuesday to announce the leadership change. She added that DeMint had already left the building by then.
Heritage, which has 500,000 members, brought in about $92 million in revenue in 2015 and paid DeMint more than $1 million every year. That’s according to its most recent publicly available tax filings.
The non-profit has been a crucial ally of President Donald Trump and his still-young administration. The president thanked Heritage – and specifically DeMint – during his speech Friday to the National Rifle Association.
Yet the organization struggles with the same complex internal dynamics facing Republicans writ large: Heritage Action, its advocacy arm, was urging lawmakers to reject Congress’s omnibus spending bill even as the Trump administration was aggressively making the case for it on Tuesday.
The bill, Heritage argued, “woefully fails the test of fiscal responsibility and does not advance important conservative policies.”
Founder Ed Feulner will serve as president and chief executive officer during a search for DeMint’s replacement.
President Donald Trump’s supporters are accusing CNN of censorship for not airing an advertisement touting the president’s accomplishments, which the network said Tuesday it rejected because it was its own form of fake news.
The ad from Trump’s campaign – he became a declared candidate for reelection in 2020 on Jan. 19 – says that “America has rarely seen such success” and lists a series of actions from the first 100 days of his presidency.
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“You wouldn’t know it from watching the news. America is winning, and President Trump is making America great again,” the ad says. The faces of NBC’s Andrea Mitchell, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, ABC’s George Stephanopoulos and CBS’ Scott Pelley are shown onscreen behind the phrase “fake news.”
CNN said it requested the campaign remove the “false graphic.”
“The mainstream media is not fake news, and therefore the ad is false and per policy will be accepted only if that graphic is deleted,” CNN tweeted in response.
In response to the Donald J. Trump for President campaign’s accusations of ad censorship: pic.twitter杭州桑拿/0Rbanpf0dn
— CNN Communications (@CNNPR) May 2, 2017
Michael Glassner, executive director of Trump’s campaign said that “CNN is trying to silence our voice and censor our free speech” because it doesn’t fit the network’s narrative.
The campaign is refusing to change its ad, which is running on Fox News Channel and the Fox Business Network. Trump’s team is spending $1.5 million to spread its message.
One of Trump’s campaign committees quickly dispatched a fundraising pitch tied to the ad flap. “Your support made it all possible,” the email says, before asking for contributions of $5 or more. “But the FAKE NEWS MEDIA refuses to tell the truth about our many achievements.”
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CNN has been a frequent target of Trump’s criticism, both during the campaign and during his young presidency. In tweets, he’s called CNN “fake news” and “unwatchable.” Criticizing media coverage has been in the Republican campaign playbook long before Trump even emerged.
Separately, the campaign changed its ad to remove an image of H.R. McMaster, the national security adviser. Although not illegal, the Department of Defence strongly discourages use of such officials in political advertising.
—;
Associated Press correspondents Julie Bykowicz and Donna Cassata in Washington contributed to this report.
The government’s decision to scale back the provincial fine option program has some community-based organizations worried.
The fine option program allows people to pay traffic and parking tickets through hours of community service.
“We rely very heavily on fine options to come in with volunteers who are working off traffic and parking fine tickets,” Tracey Mazur, Habitat for Humanity’s acting CEO, said.
“Last year alone, the 2016/2017 year, it was over 1200 volunteer hours that we had from fine options and really what it equates to if we were paying minimum wage, which we don’t, is over $18,000 worth of wage payments,” she added.
By reducing the availability of the fine option program for people who have traffic violations, the government wants to save more than a million dollars. It argues less than half of those who register for the program actually complete it.
“They’re supposed to be held to task, but the way that the program works is that we’re not always made aware of those people that don’t complete,” Justice Minister Gordon Wyant said.
“There’s going to be some consequences to some [community-based organizations], but I think returning to the original intent of the program is appropriate. We are going to keep an eye on the effect and our community-based organizations. We do value the work that they do within the communities, but again, if people aren’t completing the work, then I’m not sure that the value to the province is there.”
People in the fine option program usually average 30 to 40 hours at Habitat for Humanity, Mazur said.
She also said it isn’t common for people to miss their shifts.
“We have forms that we fill out so the government and the John Howard Society can keep track, and we certainly submit those forms, but we’ve certainly had very low to no problems with that at all,” she said.
According to the John Howard Society, which manages fine options, more than 27,000 hours of community service helped pay off 1,300 fines in Regina alone last year.
Many of those volunteers actually return to help out after all fines are paid, Mazur said.
“When you look at what they’re looking at as a cost savings, it’s peanuts compared to what the community impact is,” Mazur said.
Corey Perry scored 6:57 into the second overtime as the Anaheim Ducks completed an improbable comeback to defeat the Edmonton Oilers 4-3 in Game 5 of their second-round playoff series on Friday night.
Rickard Rakell, Cam Fowler and Ryan Getzlaf scored for Anaheim in the final 3:16 of regulation to erase Edmonton’s 3-0 lead and send the game to an extra period. John Gibson made 35 saves for the Ducks, who became the only team in NHL history to win a playoff game in overtime after trailing by three or more goals with less than four minutes to play.
Perry took a crisp pass from Getzlaf, faked a shot to get Cam Talbot off balance and put it around the goalie’s left skate. The Ducks barreled onto the ice to dog pile Perry, while the Oilers trudged back to their dressing room.
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The Ducks now lead the series 3-2.
Connor McDavid had a power-play goal and Drake Caggiula and Leon Draisaitl also scored during a three-goal eruption in the second period for the Oilers. Talbot made 60 saves.
Game 6 is Sunday in Edmonton.
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Honda Center was emptying out when Getzlaf finally scored, only for Fowler to come up with a second goal 35 seconds later.
The tying goal perfectly captured the madness of the moment, with Fowler throwing the puck on net from the blue line where it ended up among a mass of bodies, including two Ducks, two Oilers and a sprawling Talbot. Somehow the puck came loose after two attempts by Perry and ended up at Rakell’s feet, and he fired a backhand shot that got through all that traffic with 15 seconds left.
It was an ending that did not seem possible given the Oilers’ mastery of the middle 20 minutes of regulation.
Anaheim Ducks right wing Corey Perry, left, scores the game winning goal past Edmonton Oilers goalie Cam Talbot during the fifth period in overtime in Game 5 of a second-round NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series in Anaheim, Calif., Friday, May 5, 2017.
(AP Photo/Chris Carlson)
After being outscored by three goals in the second in their last game at Rogers Place, the Oilers were happy to return the favour. Draisaitl scored just 15 seconds in, pouncing on a rebound of Oscar Klefbom’s shot for his second goal of the series and third this post-season.
McDavid then capitalized on a two-man advantage to put the Oilers up 2-0, swatting a rebound between nemesis Ryan Kesler’s legs into an open net. It was McDavid’s third consecutive game with a goal.
McDavid picked up an assist on Caggiula’s goal, finally notching his first multi-point performance of the playoffs after posting 30 during the regular season to claim the Art Ross Trophy as top scorer in the league. The Oilers were able to spring a 4-on-2 break but only needed a give-and-go between Caggiula and McDavid to break the game open.
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The Oilers were lucky to get out of the first without giving up a goal, especially as absences on defence piled up. Klefbom missed roughly half of the period after taking a puck to the chest, while Matt Benning briefly exited the game after being cleanly checked into the boards by Nate Thompson. Andrej Sekera was shaken up on a seemingly routine check from Getzlaf with an apparent left leg injury.
Sekera did not return, leaving the Oilers with only four defencemen for part of the second when Kris Russell was also shaken up.
Getzlaf missed a penalty shot after Milan Lucic had to grab the white-hot Ducks captain to disrupt a breakaway, and Anaheim failed to capitalize on two dominant power-play chances, allowing Edmonton to recover during the first intermission and seemingly take control of the game until the dramatic final 3:16.
Watch below: Anaheim Ducks head coach Randy Carlyle spoke to reporters following his team’s win in double overtime of Game 5 in their series against the Edmonton Oilers.
NOTES: Edmonton’s Zack Kassian and Anaheim’s Nick Ritchie each received 10-minute misconduct penalties in the second after fighting in spite of several warnings from the officials. … With Patrick Eaves (foot) and Ondrej Kase (lower body) out of the lineup, forward Nic Kerdiles made his first post-season appearance for the Ducks. Kerdiles is the Ducks’ first player from Orange County.
Saskatchewan’s wood tick population could be on the rise as a result of cool, wet weather in parts of the province.
The two types of adult ticks in the province lie dormant during the winter and suffer in dry and hot conditions, according to Dr. Emily Jenkins, a veterinary parasitologist at the University of Saskatchewan.
READ MORE: Ticks creeping into Sask. areas never seen before: expert
“If it’s a cold, wet spring like we’re experiencing right now, they do very well. They survive better and as soon as they get the chance, on a nice sunny day, they’ll be out looking,” Jenkins said.
Experts believe the climate in Saskatchewan has become more favourable for ticks to move northward in province, she said.
At the same time, cities are growing outward, often creeping into tick territory.
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About 94 per cent of Saskatchewan’s ticks are the American dog tick. Rocky Mountain wood ticks are also present, according to the Saskatchewan government.
Neither variety carries Lyme disease, an infectious disease spread through tick bites.
Since 2008, the province has collected around 16,000 ticks – of which 41 were identified as black-legged ticks.
Only four black-legged ticks tested positive for the bacterium behind Lyme disease, according to a government website.
READ MORE: What you need to know about tick season and Lyme disease in Manitoba
A red rash in the shape of a bull’s-eye is one of the clearest indicators of Lyme disease, though others exist, said pharmacist Kelly Kizlyk.
“Anything like fever, feeling unwell, flu-like symptoms after a tick bite and even within the months following a tick bite, seek medical help,” Kizlyk said.
Prince Albert, Sask., has now tossed its name into the hat to become the location for the head office of the province’s single health authority.
By this fall, all 12 regional health authorities will cease to exist in favour of one authority for the entire province.
Despite the name, Athabasca Health Authority is not considered a regional health authority. It’s funded both provincially and federally so it will stay the same during the transition.
READ MORE: Registered nurses sound alarm regarding Saskatchewan patients being put at risk
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The rest however will be rolled into one and the location of the head office is still up in the air but if Prince Albert’s mayor had his way, it would be located there.
“You can set up your operations any where in our province because of technology so I think PA is the prime location, we do have government buildings that have space here to house them so we got the infrastructure,” Prince Albert Mayor Greg Dionne said.
“I think it’s important for the citizens that any time we have a chance to bid on new, good paying jobs that we should be front and centre.”
READ MORE: Sask. health ministry to pay $1.9 million to 7 health region executives through voluntary separation
Earlier this year, Moose Jaw advocated to serve as the single superboard’s headquarters. On Tuesday, the minister of health said Saskatoon and Regina will also be considered during the decision making process.
“What makes sense from a business perspective, it’s about patients so we’re trying to do this without any effect on patients,” Saskatchewan Health Minister Jim Reiter said.
Cost savings isn’t the only reason for the restructuring. Officials said with no regional boundaries in the province – patients should receive seamless service no matter where they go.
According to the ministry, management as well as support services will still be required across Saskatchewan to support the delivery of high quality health care.
“Even if they do, I want to make sure that we’re primed and let the government know that we’re open for business and we’re ready to set up their offices here,” Dionne added.
The final location of the head office, according to Reiter, will be announced before the end of session. Shortly thereafter, the search for a new CEO and board appointments will be undertaken.
